Halfback Puts the Boot In

As the Federal Government moves to crack down on workers and alleged terrorists, Australia’s second-largest newspaper company has announced it will punt up to 70 journalists.

Journalists at Fairfax newspapers rejected the job cuts as unnecessary and have demanded senior executives cop a 20 per cent pay cut and hand back performance bonuses.

Fairfax said the decision to offer redundancies was based on the "lacklustre" performance of its metropolitan newspapers.

This is despite former CEO Fred Himler being given a $6 million golden handshake after stepping down this year and new CEO David Kirk accepting a $1.2 million sign-on bonus.

The sackings were one of the first actions of new CEO and former All Black halfback, David Kirk.

Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance's Alan Kennedy told the Crikey newsletter staff were planning "full out assault on the board to expose them as people with no media experience who are plundering the joint."

Journalists went on strike from Thursday afternoon to Friday morning last week and union officials say further strikes are possible if Fairfax pushes for forced redundancies.